Fresh Start
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: Sometimes, all you need is a fresh start, and someone kind enough to give it to you.


**I totally should have been writing the finishing touches on my Fairy Tale prompt for CoLu week but… the MinMax called to me.**

 **This is another gift fic for Jxllal-sass on Tumblr.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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Fairy Tail was having a party.

This was pretty much a given, as they often took the sun's daily ascent into the sky as ample justification to revel and brawl and drink and carouse to their hearts content. Which was generally until everyone passed out drunk on the floor or upon their neighbor.

Although, this particular party was still in full-swing, having not quite reached that level of alcohol saturation.

The raucous guild had decided to celebrate the fact that they were, once again, a guild. Of course, what was the fun with just them alone, though? So they had invited all of their friends and allied guilds to join them in this party to end all parties.

Perhaps "party" was not quite the right word for it at the moment, though. It was more or less an all-out brawl, having begun with a shout of, "Fight me, Sting!" from Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer, with a resounding, "Hell yeah!" from a certain blond Guild Master. Things had devolved from there, and now the guild's main area was a labyrinth of broken furniture and unconscious people.

Off in a corner, at one of the few remaining tables, sat Sabertooth's Lady Minerva. Thing sort of rough-housing wasn't her thing, so she had stayed out of the flurry of flying limbs and beer mugs. Instead, she observed the others, a small smile on her face as her friends caused trouble as per their usual wont.

When she had shown up earlier with her guild mates, Minerva's reception by the other guilds had been cool to say the least. She couldn't blame them, really. It had been a year since The Naval Battle, but none could forget the cruelty Minerva had displayed that day.

That is, up until Lucy Heartfilia had darted forward to tackle her with a bone crushing hug and squeals of delight and welcome rushing from the blonde's lips. Taking cues from the Celestial mage's reaction to Minerva, the rest of Fairy Tail had followed suit, shortly tailed by the representatives of the myriad other guilds present.

Minerva had happily returned Lucy's enthusiastic greeting, and had received a good number of introductions to the other people present. The majority of such had been polite, but none nearly as eager as Lucy. Although Erza had decided to deliver her own variation of Lucy's hug, by crushing Minerva's skull against her steel chest plate in a gesture of (rather painful) affection.

After that, Minerva had been left to her own devices for the most part. The Territory mage was completely content with this, however. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't much for socialization. She had definitely become more extroverted and kinder over the past year, but she didn't possess nearly the level of ease with which Sting conducted himself around others – something that Rogue had informed her was completely fine and not everyone was expected to reach the level of idiocy that Sting had attained.

Suddenly, her musings were interrupted by a beer mug being placed before her. Glancing up into the smiling face of a somewhat scruffy blond man, she tentatively returned the expression. "Hello."

"Hey!" the mysterious interloper greeted. "Thought you looked thirsty!"

Now that he mentioned it, she realized that she was, indeed. "Thank you," she told him. "I'm sorry; I don't recall your name."

"It's Max," the man replied, settling down at the bench beside her. "Max Alors. And that's fine – I'm not an especially remarkable person."

"I'm sure that's not true," came her automatic response.

He laughed weakly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks."

Minerva appraised him out of the corner of her eye while she drank from the mug. It only confirmed her initial assessment of scruffy, though she had to admit to his clothes being well-tailored and semi-professional. "You're not going to join the others?" she asked, with a short jerk of her head towards his brawling friends.

"Nah," Max replied. "I was in the thick of it earlier, and I think I've had my ass kicked enough for one day."

"I see."

"Sorry about before," he apologized abruptly, nervous under the woman's intense gaze.

She raised an eyebrow at this. Setting down the drink, she turned slightly on the bench. Now facing him, she proceeded to give him her undivided, very intimidating attention. "About what?"

Squirming in his seat, Max appeared deeply embarrassed. "For not greeting you properly, earlier. When you first arrived, I mean."

A smile touched her lips and her eyes softened. "It's alright. I expected as much." She held up a hand before he could interject. "I admit that I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of. Horrible things. And you all have a right to be wary of me for my treatment of Lucy. I only hope to change your opinion, in time."

Max let out a short laugh. "Well, you've changed mine!" He held out his hand to the Sabertooth mage. "Doing this right this time. Welcome to Fairy Tail, Ms. Orlando!"

Overjoyed, she shook his hand. "I'm looking forward to a fresh start. Happy to be here, Mr. Alors."

"Max! Please!" he insisted.

"Then call me Minerva," she replied, dropping his hand with some reluctance. The limb had been warm, dry, and calloused, and her own had fit perfectly within it. But above all else, it had radiated friendship. Actually, the individual before her did.

"Will do!" Max laughed lightly. "I have another confession to make."

"Oh?" Minerva eyed him with curiosity. "What is it?"

Max coughed. "Okay, actually two. I didn't really come over here just to give you the drink. It was a pretext. I just wanted to talk to you – you seemed lonely, sitting in the corner by yourself."

Fighting back the tinge of red threatening to make an appearance on her cheekbones, Minerva urged, "And the other?"

Unlike his companion, Max utterly failed to do anything about the rush of blood to his face. "I… uh… I really like your haircut?"

"Is that a question?" she teased, though she beamed at him for the compliment.

"No!" The negative left Max's mouth in a high-pitched squeak that nearly had Minerva in giggles. "Ah, hell." He placed his hand over his face. "I sound like a moron, don't I?"

Minerva could not restrain her laughter any more. Max's completely abashed countenance was just too much for her. Short bursts of giggles came from the Territory mage, as she continued her valiant efforts to maintain her façade of implacability. It wasn't working. Though she did cover her mouth with her hand, her eyes scrunched up in delight.

"Great," he said, with a short laugh of his own. "I really am a moron."

She shook her head fiercely. "Not even close!" she reassured him. "You _have_ met my Guild Master, right?"

"A couple of times," Max admitted.

Dropping her hand, Minerva smiled brilliantly at him. "He's even worse back at Sabertooth." She paused for a moment, and then added, "Thank you, for coming over here, Max."

He grinned back at her. "My pleasure. No, really. Cheers?" Max held up his mug. "To… I don't know. Fresh starts?"

Minerva raised her mug and tapped it against Max's. "Cheers. To new friends, as well."


End file.
